27212
Relating Measures of Sleep from Polysomnography Exams and Parent Questionnaires in Children with Autism

Poster Presentation
Thursday, May 10, 2018: 5:30 PM-7:00 PM
Hall Grote Zaal (de Doelen ICC Rotterdam)
A. Arazi1,2, A. Tarasiuk3,4, G. Meiri5 and I. Dinstein6,7,8, (1)Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheba, Israel, (2)Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel, (3)Sleep-Wake Disorders Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheba, Israel, (4)Department of Physiology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel, (5)Soroka Medical Center, Beer Sheba, Israel, (6)Negev Autism Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel, (7)Department of Psychology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel, (8)Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel
Background:

Numerous studies using parental questionnaires, such as the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), reported that sleep problems are highly prevalent in children with autism. In parallel, several polysomnography studies have reported that the proportion of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is decreased and that low-frequency EEG power (Delta band: 0.5-4 Hz) is weaker in toddlers with autism. Are such polysomnography measures related to parental reports of sleep disturbances or to measures of autism severity (ADOS)? To examine these relationships, we performed prospective polysomnography recordings in children with autism and asked their parents to fill out the CSHQ. All participating children were part of the regional autism database initiative at the Negev Autism Center in Israel (www.negevautism.org), which continues to grow at a rate of ~20 new children per month.

Objectives:

To explore the association between objective sleep measures by polysomnography recordings and subjective parental report measures from the CSHQ questionnaire.

Methods:

Twenty-two children with autism (mean age: 55±4 months) were prospectively recruited to the study. All children underwent overnight polysomnography recording at Soroka University Medical Center and completed the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) assessment. Parents of all children completed the CSHQ questionnaire. Sleep/wake activity was scored according to accepted guidelines and EEG power in the Delta (1-4Hz), Theta (4-8Hz), Alpha (8-13Hz) and Beta (13-20Hz) frequency bands were calculated for each sleep stage (I, II, III, and REM).

Results:

Parental report with the CSHQ revealed that 86% of participating children had a total sleep disturbance score of over 41 (mean score: 53±2.5), which is often used as a cutoff score for identifying sleep problems. No significant correlations were found between the total sleep disturbance score and EEG power in any of the examined bands, nor with the proportion of REM sleep/duration, or with ADOS scores. However, ADOS scores were positively correlated with Delta power (r>0.51, p<0.05) and negatively correlated with Alpha (r<-0.41, p<0.05) and Beta (r<-0.49, p<0.05) power.

Conclusions:

These results suggest that parental reports of sleep quality using the CSHQ were not associated with Polysomnography measures of sleep. Interestingly, children with more severe autism symptoms exhibited deeper sleep (i.e., larger Delta power during all sleep stages). We continue to expand the sample to determine the validity of these preliminary findings.

See more of: Brain Function (fMRI, fcMRI, MRS, EEG, ERP, MEG)
See more of: Brain Function (fMRI, fcMRI, MRS, EEG, ERP, MEG)